With China and Southeast Asian states disputing claims to the energy-rich South China Sea, the United States is likely to bolster its presence in the area, writes CFR's Joshua Kurlantzick.

With the United States eager to withdraw from Afghanistan and reconciliation with the Taliban considered key to any peace process, Afghan women's rights are once again in question, writes CFR's Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

The 2011 high-level UN meeting on non-communicable diseases fell far short of the major funding and targets agreed to at a similar meeting on HIV/AIDS a decade ago, which CFR's Thomas Bollyky says indicates a need for different actors and approaches on chronic diseases.

This year's daunting UN challenges for President Obama: navigating the Palestinian statehood thicket and convincing Americans that UN diplomacy matters, writes CFR's Stewart Patrick.

New efforts by the Obama administration to prioritize the prevention of atrocities can only make a difference if authorities are able to surmount challenges ranging from bureaucratic inertia to fickle public opinion, write Andrew Miller and Paul Stares.

U.S. lawmakers' brinkmanship over raising the debt ceiling could have prompted a series of moves--the downgrading of U.S. debt by Standard and Poor's being one--that could cause a selloff of U.S. securities and an end to the primacy of the dollar, writes CFR's Francis Warnock.

Scaling back the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan will yield a peace dividend, but only when Social Security and Medicare spending are controlled will the U.S. be able to refocus on domestic priorities, says CFR'S Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

The process that led to South Sudan's independence offers lessons for avoiding a new, devastating conflict in the region and underscores the importance of sustained and vigorous U.S. diplomacy, writes CFR's Payton Knopf from the new country's capital.

South Sudan's independence July 9 could encourage secession efforts elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, but elites in those countries will likely stymie those attempts at challenging colonial borders, at least for now.

Gridlock over raising the debt ceiling has already tarnished Washington's image and failure to address the problem in one month could cause enormous global financial upheaval, writes CFR's Sebastian Mallaby.

New IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has to move quickly to establish independence from the European authorities who got her the job, enhance the IMF's legitimacy, and display her ability to manage the fund, says CFR's Steven Dunaway.

There is little doubt Prime Minister Erdogan's AKP party will retain power in Turkey's June 12 elections. The focus will be on whether he uses his mandate to consolidate Turkish democracy under a new liberal constitution, says CFR's Steven A. Cook.

Thailand's general elections in July could mark a crucial step toward reconciliation but are likely to fuel further resentments that have roiled the country and eroded regional stability, says CFR's Joshua Kurlantzick.

Hostilities in Sudan might be relieved by a deal hammered out by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, but ethnic and religious divides, resource battles, and looming southern independence remain contentious issues, says CFR's John Campbell.

The G8 summit affirmed the group's importance as a U.S. partner as it seeks a common front on the "Arab Spring" uprisings, and in forging collective action on human rights and security matters, says CFR's Stewart Patrick.

The events convulsing the Middle East should prompt supplier states to place a moratorium on most nuclear cooperation with the region and devise long-term plans for better safeguarding major nuclear sites around the world, writes CFR's Jonathan Pearl.

The Obama administration's plan to seize frozen Libyan assets and use them for Libyan aid is a dramatic, and probably unilateral, exercise of U.S. power that is likely to yield a relatively modest sum of money, says CFR's Stuart Levey.

The United States should see family planning as a foreign policy priority that leads to healthier and more prosperous societies, and should increase funding, resources and support for those countries with the highest unmet need, argues CFR's Isobel Coleman.

In this Markets and Democracy Brief, CFR's Elizabeth C. Economy and Jared Mondschein assess the rise of online activism in China and what it means for the country's political system.

Syria's Ba'athist regime has responded to widening pro-reform protests by tightening its crackdown, but this approach is unlikely to quiet restive Syrians like it has in the past, writes CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.